


what makes up love

by MedicalAssisstanceSpareChange



Category: Banana Bus Squad
Genre: Fluff, High School AU, M/M, Multi, Pining, Poly, general confusion, mentions of (and small instances of) homophobia, this is probably one of the best polys i'll ever write and i strive to make that statement false
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-08-28
Updated: 2018-08-28
Packaged: 2019-07-03 13:14:30
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,502
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15819606
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MedicalAssisstanceSpareChange/pseuds/MedicalAssisstanceSpareChange
Summary: Four boys notice each other in high school one year, and by the end are all much closer.





	what makes up love

**Author's Note:**

> I wrote this at a stupidly late hour a while back for my tumblr friend grace (She gave me a bunch of prompts and these four bois and i just ran with it.) It's still one of my favorite things I've written, so I hope you enjoy it!

The four of them first meet in high school. Scotty and Tyler are juniors, Craig is a sophomore, Smitty a freshman. Their lives are full of nothing more than shared classrooms and brief moments in the hallways.

When Smitty first comes to the school, he makes a wave, crashing in with the popular kids, winning over everyone with his sense of humor and his strange birthmark that he’s extremely proud of, the one that gives him a red eye and a streak of white hair. 

He’s shoulder bumps and fingerguns and skinny jeans, a boy made for fashion with a cocksure grin that could take over the world if he wanted to. As the year goes on, the grin never changes, and neither does his preferred style of pants. It’s the one consistent thing about his fashion that lodges him in Mini’s brain, as he only sees the freshman and his smile and his multicolored eyes when they whizz past each other in the halls. But Smitty always remembers Mini, from the moment he first saw him.

Mini is only in his second year, still trying to figure out what he wants to do with his life. 

Everyone tells him he can take it easy, wait a bit longer to find his passion, but the boy can’t settle for anything less than self-perfection. He’s AP textbooks and frowning at a computer screen in the middle of an empty courtyard and frustrated blushing when he can’t figure out a problem, whether the problem be academic or social, like how to ask out the cute boy that wears skinny jeans and figuring out what he feels towards two of the juniors who are in half of his advanced classes. Scotty and Tyler are inseparable, and truth be told Craig envies them, wants them, is utterly confused by them. 

And so when he looks at them for a bit too long, he feels his face heat up, especially when he sees their defining traits.

Scotty and Tyler have been dating for a few months now, one of the only gay couples in school not defied and targeted by bullies. In part it’s because of Scotty, one of the shyer popular kids who still has managed to become everyone’s friend. Scotty is fixing a hairstyle and baby blue eyes and the kind of laugh you normally only get when you poke at someone’s side, a soft, high pitched tickle giggle. 

It only takes a few seconds of being near him to be won over, his heart the size of the sun and willing to shine on everyone in the form of his beaming smile. No one would ever want to ruin someone like that.

The other reason is Tyler, who looks like he should have graduated three years ago with the way he towers over everyone and is already growing a decent beard. Tyler is loud yelling and friendly insults and bruises, on his knuckles when he defends someone, on his cheek and jaw and chest when he gets overwhelmed in a fight, dealing out blows as often as he takes them. No one dares mess with him now, knowing what sort of black-and-blue future will rise up in the wake of their mistakes. 

And yet Tyler’s also softness, a gentle kiss pressed to Scotty’s cheek or a sweet look in his eyes when he catches Mini staring, a gentle huff of air as he watches a certain freshman walk past.

 

It takes a while, but things happen, and by the end of the year things are different.

It starts with Tyler getting jealous, and a bit confused about Mini and Smitty. Scotty’s smile seems to be aimed at Smitty more often than him, and the two gently break it off, although Tyler takes it out on a locker or two. Smitty walks up to Mini one day, intending to ask him out because he wants to figure out just how that blush works, only to find him pressed against a locker by Tyler, their lips nearly locked. 

As Smitty whirls away to console his broken heart with a shopping spree he finds himself blinded by a smile, running straight into Scotty and grabbing the side of his stomach to keep him from falling over. The laugh that Scotty lets out as his body registers the tickle instantly snares Smitty’s heart, and the way that Scotty’s raking his bright blue eyes over Smitty’s outfit suggests that there’s a chance for something wonderful here.

And so it goes for a few months, although Tyler and Scotty clearly have some unresolved feelings and Smitty and Mini still half-consciously reach for each others hands when they pass in the hall.

 

Things change again at a party. There’s alcohol, and a game of truth or dare, Mini nestled comfortably on Tyler’s lap as they wait their turn. Smitty and Scotty are sitting a few feet away, leaning against each other for support as the drink buzzes through their skulls.

“I dare you four to go on a double date- to trade partners,” a girl hiccups, grinning unevenly. Scotty recognizes her as a senior, a friend of Ohm’s named Momo.

Scotty’s giggle shows itself in a sudden fit of nerves that lasts all the way to the weekend, when he finds himself walking next to Mini, somehow eating ice cream while his boyfriend and his ex talked a few feet away. Somehow his hand has ended up in Mini’s; it feels almost natural there.

Behind them, Tyler is trying to figure out why his heart feels so strange. The walk down to the beach, talking with Smitty, who looks fantastic as always, seeing his ex and his current boyfriend walking hand in hand… for the first time in ages, Tyler’s heart feels like it isn’t bruised. 

He slips an arm around Smitty, noticing how it widens the younger boy’s smile, and leaves it there as he takes another bite of his ice-cream cone.

 

The four of them are an item now, and that comes with its own issues. Tyler is getting into fights again, and Smitty’s diving deeper into his clothes to hide his insecurities, buying things for his boyfriends that make them look like a surprisingly fashion-savvy group. Scotty’s smile and giggle are practically strained with how much he’s using them to keep things from getting awkward between them and the rest of the student body, who regards them with a mob suspicion that puts them all on edge.

Things move again at the end of the third quarter, when Mini’s situation becomes unbearable. His parents can’t take the thought of a gay son, let alone one with three loving boyfriends, and the shouting match between the three of them (fix him, his mother says; get him out, his father replies; let me be, Craig screams) can probably be heard in the next town over. 

It’s another puzzle he can’t solve, the mystery of why his parents, the two people who promised to always love him, are lost in their blind hatred of something he can’t change, and when Mini finds himself sitting on his suitcase outside two hours later he’s flushed from head to heels.

It doesn’t make sense, he rants to Tyler when he comes to pick Mini up. It doesn’t make sense, and it’s frustrating him that they think he should have to choose between them, between his boyfriends and his family, between his happiness and his home. And then the red of his face turns blotchy as he starts to sob into Tyler’s shoulder.

It’s a Friday. Mini spends a sleepless night at Tyler’s, held close by his boyfriend until he eventually succumbs to sleep in the predawn light. When he wakes up, Tyler’s gone, but Scotty and Smitty are there on either side of him, skinny jean-clad legs tangled in his and Scotty’s smile healing his heart. 

Tyler walks in with a massive bowl of popcorn, his sleeves rolled up to show off new bruises from his latest defense, and calls the popcorn breakfast as he turns on the TV.

It’s a calm morning, spent laughing at comedy shows as they shovel popcorn into their mouths, figuring out how to rotate Mini between their houses and get the rest of his stuff. Mini is the brains of the group, unable to hide when he needs help fixing something, and Scotty is the heart, showing his love with the soft smiles and ceaseless giggles that sound like he’s being tickled. Smitty is their soul, always yearning for new things to do with them and eager to learn, and Tyler is their body, defending them all with every last fiber of his being and proud to show off the results of the battles.

They met in high school, four boys who barely knew each other, remembered only as a few fleeting traits.

They fell in love one Saturday morning, four boys who were inseparable, unable to imagine life without the other three. Together, they make up love.


End file.
